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Why do iPads still feel underpowered despite nearing processor performance parity with X86?
According to Geekbench, Apple's A10X in my iPad Pro is almost twice as fast as the i7 in my 2012 Macbook Pro but I seem to be able to run more plugins on my laptop at much lower latency. Is the benchmark not telling the whole story or does it come down to software/platform maturity?
Comments
iPad Pro
https://browser.geekbench.com/ios_devices/46
Macbook Pro
https://browser.geekbench.com/macs/283
You answered yourself....these benchmarks are useless here.
The creator of the benchmark said that comparisons cross platform are valid.
And yet you see different results as i did too.
Not sure what they actually compare but they are pretty useless to compare a DAW/plug-in performance between these platforms.
What about thermal throttle, multi-core support, how an OS set priorities to tasks etc.
One of the reasons i returned my iPad Pro 10.5“ since my 5 years old macbook pro can handle 10 times more stuff.
Even if the next iPads are double as fast on paper it‘s useless for reality.
Yah thermal is huge from what I have heard. Despite having a GPU it sounds like rendering the screen is much more CPU intense, plus there is the mulitoucheroo... etc
My old Air-2 doesn't feel underpowered at all, rather the opposite - and as mentioned above: within it's effective temperature range (probably) no X86 CPU could handle the same stuff
Don't forget that plugin developement has been optimized for decades in the desktop world.
In that domain IOS is still in it's learning phase.
Marketing?
Performance on iPad Pro for me has been stellar. But that also has been the result of not using unstable plugins no matter how good they sound
It's mostly badly optimized apps (sorry!). NanoStudio can run 16 VA synth instances together with 50 effects on an original iPad 2. Go figure! (YES YES I KNOW THE NEW SYNTHS SOUND SOOOOO MUCH BETTER!!! But still, then maybe the new synths are a classic case of "wrong topic!"
) Because most people probably prefer being able to finish a production without freezing or crackling, than to have a GAME-CHANGING sound from their synth that no casual listener can tell the difference anyway! 
(Sorry, rant over!)
It's not the iPad hardware that is underpowered, it's the software running on it that gives you the impression.
With faster hardware, developers have continued to
Let's face it:
A current iPad would have absolutely no problem running software like Reason, Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, Cubase Pro, Reaper, FL Studio, Studio One etc.
As soon as the first company sees a substantial market for such an app on an iPad, they will do it.
which brings us back to square one: what about revenues ? negligible ...
It's unclear to me why devs don't optimize. Maybe because they don't haver access to everything. But it's unlogical why rendering a the same movie in iMovie on an iPhone 7 is still faster than on an Xs Max. The processor is at least 30% faster. More weird is that LumaFusion that holds a reputation to update and optimize everything has the smae "problem" as iMovie. Rendering times with movies on an iPhone 7 are still faster than the newer ones.
The only reason I can think of is that iOS 11 and iOS 12 are just not very optimized compared to older iOS versions.
I need to share this and here seems a good place like any other.
Have a nice day.
@greengrocer regarding your statement: It's unclear to me why devs don't optimize ?
They first of all have to explore relatively new dsp engines and (of course) 'new' gui methods. Interface design to access/control the code's parameters (not fancy screen layouts) is about factor 3 to 5 more time consuming than coding the math parts.
It's simply a matter of time and learning.
ps: forgot... they also have to keep up with Apple's well of ideas... some good, some not so
iPad is optimized for daily tasks not high performance. My Macbook pro can of course do a lot more but my iPad is faster for browsing the web, email etc.
Thanks, explains a lot
And that my friends is the answer to why drum machines cannot adequately replace live drummers.
We really need a like button on this forum.
Jojo Mayer aproves this comment.
@AtticusL thanks
Ditto. Some apps need to be optimized. Yeah, LayR team, I am looking at you. Your synth is awesome but damn it's power hungry. iOS 12 brought a lot more power feel to the mix I find as well. No more cracks in Auria Pro on my side.
@wim
Great Maschine Performance, because it doesn’t sounds like Maschine! 😊
Sadly I’m not a finger drummer but this guy is a master... 👍
Thermal issues is probably the main one. The iPad processor can only run so hot. If it's encased in a small enclosure, with other hot things, it simply won't be running as fast - regardless of what it's potential speed might be.
Memory might be another issue. Don't know enough about how iPads handle swapping virtual memory, but that can have a significant impact on performance.
Power is possibly another issue - you're going to get throttling if your iPad tries to draw more power than the battery can provide. Laptops are bigger, have more powerful batteries (or are plugged in to a power adapter).
Other possibilities - IOS may just not be as efficient as OSX for high performance apps (it's optimized for different things after all).
Can you imagine how difficult it must be to play in a suit like that? I think it was Paganini who was so good at the standard , economic techniques of the day that he started wildly exaggerate his movements and play wide movements with ease just to show off how bored he was and could still outplay anyone using technique equivalent to wearing big Barney suit sort something like the drummer in the video.
It's still possible to write efficient apps even for the latest iOS versions, but with Apple regularly introducing easier but less efficient coding methods, it's up to the developer to spend a lot of time finding ways to work around that.
Also, using algorithms, I doubt that all developers really know if the algos they're using are optimized for the processor architecture they're aimed to run on. If they aren't, type conversions can eat up lots of performance too.
Swift does a good job making developers forget about that.
Yawn. Sure he can drum, but does he have any good costumes?
Just what the NanoStudio developer posted today f.e. while we at performance....
"Nothing wrong with an iPad Air 2 - that's the newest iPad I have. One of the demo songs has about 22 tracks, 20 instruments, 30 insert FX and it runs at around 25% CPU with a 2.9ms buffer size."